MTS vows better trolley service for Holiday Bowl

San Diego Trolley officials vow they will be more prepared for Thursday’s Holiday Bowl and parade crowds than they were for last week’s Poinsettia Bowl, which brought more commuters than anticipated.

Trolley service will be expanded all day during Thursday’s Holiday Bowl with three lines going to Qualcomm Stadium every five minutes starting at 3:30 p.m.

Spectators planning to take the trolley should depart at least three hours before the game, said Metropolitan Transist District spokeswoman Judy Leitner.

Everyday work commuters will add to the congestion, which is not a factor on Sundays for Chargers games.

“This is our biggest day of the year, period,” Leitner said.

After last week’s Pointsettia Bowl, MTS received a number of complaints about long waits getting out of Qualcomm, Leitner said.

Combined with a week of rain, flooding and inconsistent crowd control, trolley riders trying to get out of the stadium after San Diego State beat the Naval Academy last week, faced long waits with little movement and few trains. Some complained that batches of fans were allowed to cut in line due to poor crowd control.

The issue, Leitner said, stemmed from private security at Qualcomm moving groups of riders from one line to another in a failed effort to expedite travel; outages because of the rainstorm; and inadequate trains on hand because of inaccurate crowd projections.

“We carried more than 15,000 for the Poinsettia Bowl which is more than in years past,” Leitner said. “We were prepared for it to be high but we didn’t anticipate that it would be this high.”

Kyle Trembley, 26, who attended last week’s game with his father and brother, opted to take the trolley after several news reports recommended not driving or parking at Qualcomm because of earlier flooding.

“I felt like they were taken by surprise by something that a lot of us saw coming,” Trembley said. “I’m sure last year’s Poinsettia Bowl didn’t attract as many people, but those were all foreseeable things that MTS could have prepared for in advance.”

Leitner said despite heavier crowds and complications from the rain, the trolley platform at Qualcomm was cleared in 70 minutes, “which for 15,000 people is phenomenal.”

For Thursday’s Holiday Bowl, in which the University of Nebraska will face the University of Washington, MTS is expecting more than 18,000 people. Fans can park for free at MTS park-and-rides. Lots near the stadium are expected to fill up by 5 p.m. Once those lots are full, fans are encouraged to park at the El Cajon Transit Center, Gillespie Field and Santee Town Center.